Monday, July 5, 2010

Fruit, fruit and more fruit

Wow, it is certainly high season for stone fruits here in Contra Costa County. We started getting cherries in early June and have moved on to apricots, peaches, plums and nectarines. So juicy and sweet when they are harvested at the peak of ripeness. But most consumers buy these delicacies in the supermarket. Many producers sell to wholesalers from far distances who want a fruit that ships well. As a result, the fruit is picked unripe with the hopes that it will ripen on the shelf.

My sons had never had a peach directly off a tree before we moved to California in 2000. As a result, they didn't think they liked peaches or other stone fruits. Once they met some of the farmers who grow our fruit, they decided to try a peach. I'll never forget the day several years later when one of my sons encouraged a friend to try a peach at our house. "Really," he said, "you won't ever taste a better peach. They're the best." I can't remember if his friend agreed, but I do. Bring on the stone fruits!